The Free North
History of Yorkshire Yorkshire has historically been an independent state. From the time of the Celtic Kingdom of Brigantia, through Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods, it was a distinct nation state in it’s own right. At it’s height, it extended as far as Strathclyde and Edinburgh, and included the Isle of Man. It had a rich and vibrant culture, strongly influenced by Norse religion and traditions. It was not until the Norman invasion of 1066, an act of imperialist aggression that created the first unified English kingdom, that the North was annexed to the English crown, and then only after a prolonged period of resistance by the peasantry which was only suppressed by brutal force (the ‘Harrying of the North’). The Normans also did their best to suppress the religion of the North, establishing abbeys and churches to educate the ‘heathens’, but for the most part the people stuck to their traditional beliefs, which have persisted there long after they were eradicated in Scandinavia itself. However, and despite the professed disdain in the South for the backwards peasantry, the North was the cornerstone of the British industrial revolution, the first such revolution to occur in the world. The Yorkshire textiles industry, and later coal, steel and shipbuilding, were the beating heart of Britain’s wealth, and military power, during most of it’s history. 2012: The Year of the End of the Line In 2012 distress from the rising cost of living, widespread poverty and lack of basic necessities led to riots and chaos, not just in Yorkshire but across the world. This was in part due to global economic recession, caused by a number of severe hurricanes, and several violent wars, but also to the polarisation of wealth which had been increasing exponentially since the turn of the century, to the point where the majority of incomes remained static or fell, while the rich saw huge increases in their standard of living on an annual basis. Commenting on the riots in Washington DC, a reporter famously said that “this is the end of the line for America.” She might have said, “this is the end of the line for the world.” With business at a standstill from strikes, government institutions floundering, and violence on the streets of capital cities across the globe, governments began declaring martial law. The slogan was, ‘martial law, or go under’. Actually for many, it would be both. Yorkshire in the 2010s Widespread unemployment and poverty, coupled with the collapse of the NHS, the increasing corruption in the police force and other government agencies, and the declaration of martial law in 2012, made the working class in Yorkshire increasingly volatile. In the 2010s that unrest continued and intensified. What came to be known as an ‘ahs Tykes’ mentality developed amongst students, workers and others, particularly in the City of York itself. The name is taken from the famous speech, given in Eboracum Town Hall in 2013 by an unknown worker, which so epitomised the mood at the time that it became a kind of anthem for the informal movement that developed. The ‘ahs Tykes’ slogan was stencilled on t-shirts, written on banners and scrawled in graffiti all over the city. Alongside this countercultural movement, the basis of what became known as Yorkist-Socialism developed among the same groups of society. The Free North Movement The constitution of the Free North was drawn up in the year 2021, by a group of workers in a coffee shop in Heslington. The original movement had only twenty or so members. However, it quickly found support amongst the radical workers of York, Leeds and Sheffield, and by 2023 it had grown substantially, though its exact membership and level of support are difficult to estimate accurately. As of 2023, the Free North officially declared itself as a nation, with a new, national constitution. It also officially adopted Yorkist-Socialism. The borders of the Free North were set, initially, to enclose the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber. Westminster refuses to recognise the independence of the Free North, and at the present time the nation holds effective power only over the City of York and it’s immediate surroundings. Attempts to gain control in Leeds, Hull and Sheffield had, for some time, met with failure. The Mayday Announcements On the 1st of May, 2025, the leaders of the movement appeared in public in York Commune City Centre. There they announced that the Free North movement was now an affiliate of the Communist Party of Cybernations. The news led to widespread protest within the more puritanical wing of the movement, but the consuls stuck to their guns. After extensive debate, a vote of no confidence in the consulate failed by a small majority. Though considerable support was lost, and many groups left the movement to form the short lived "Fist of the North" current, (which eventually disbanded after serious rifts within the membership), the losses were trifling compared to the benefits that Party Support would shortly bring. Key Figures As stated in the constitution, the Free North is led by the Temporary Council until elections can be held for the Diet. Currently, the TC is seven members strong. In order, beginning with the First Consul, they are the Pale Mouthed Prophet; Ghost the Hermit; Little Suzy; Red Richard; Stencil; Gung-Ho; and Sharpe. The names are, of course, fictitious, but despite the fact that the true identities of all seven consuls are now common knowledge, they are still referred to using their assumed names.